Tag Archives: babylon

In our previous study, we saw the background of the person named Israel. Israel was the younger brother by a few minutes. He went from being a deceiver to one who wrestles with God. Apart from any good deeds of his own, God decides to bless him and his descendants with some of the best territory known to mankind of his day.

Israel’s family had some issues though. As any good rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will remind you, there were not good feelings between his sons. It starts when Israel plays favorites with his wives (a good start to any dysfunctional marriage). After having 10 sons with his second-favorite wife and two maidservants, he finally has a child with his favorite wife. This child, Joseph, is later sold by his brothers to their distant cousins. Joseph ends up in Egypt and rises in the ranks. Ultimately he saves Egypt and its neighbors (including his relatives in the land of Canaan) from famine. Pharaoh honors Joseph by inviting Jacob/Israel and his descendents to take some of the best land in Egypt.

A generation later, the Egyptians weren’t so happy about Israelites living in their best territory, so they enslaved them. Four hundred thirty years later, God delivered those Israelites out of Egypt into the land he originally promised Abraham: Canaan. This nomadic nation that had never possessed a permanent homeland was on its way to its final(?) destination.

Why make them wait over 400 years? There seems to be one practical reason and one theological reason. First, there were 70 people in Israel’s family when they went into Egypt–hardly enough to occupy a country. When the Exodus occurred, there were 600,000 men, or probably 2-3 million people. (By my math, that’s 5 kids per couple for about 12, 30-year generations.) That would fill a small country nicely in those days. The theological reason comes in when God is making his covenant with Abram. God tells him that his descendants will be enslaved but that it won’t be permanent. Then Abram is told the reason: “the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” The Amorites were one of the nations in the “Promised Land” of Canaan. My understanding of this statement has been: The Canaanites aren’t bad enough to deserve losing their homeland yet… but give it 400 years.

These descendants of Israel come out of Egypt, spend 40 years having their faith tested in the wilderness, then they spend several generations trying to wrest control of Canaan from the Canaanites, only to cave in to their ways of living in worshipping. The rest of the story of the Old Testament is a struggle between a few God-fearing people who hate idol worship and a majority who would rather be just like the Canaanites. The books of Joshua thru Malachi trace the story of those few who stand against the majority and sometimes cave in themselves.

The trough of Old Testament story comes with the fall of most of Israel’s descendants to the Assyrians. This was followed within a few generations by the fall of the dominant tribe of Judah to Babylon. The next 70 years that Israel spends in exile in Babylon became the defining moment in its identity. For the first time in 1000 years, the nation didn’t have a land of its own. From that point until this day, there have always been Jews (hear the name in Ju-dah?) outside of the “land” of Israel. God had a lesson in humility to teach to this nation. Several, like Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra passed the test. God restored Judah to their ancestral land in former Canaan, and they began to rebuild.

This people group re-established its nation in the Levant slowly with the permission of the Persians (who had supplanted the Babylonians). However, it never had complete sovereignty for more than a few years here-and-there. These remaining Israelite descendants who held to their “promised” land lived under the rule of Persians, various forms of Greeks, and finally Romans. Rome had enough of their monotheistic ways and obliterated this Jewish land once more, exiling its inhabitants in 70 A.D. Jews would not live in this land again in any significant numbers for another 19 centuries.

Describing the history of a people that covers this much time will always do injustice to the nuances, but I hope you can see the trajectory of Israel as a people through its ancient history. Next, I hope to uncover what it means to say Israel is a land.

To get this blog going again, I will be re-posting some of the most popular theology material from my former blog. This is from October 2008.

I just received an email that was quite intriguing to me. I have received versions of this before. It’s not on Snopes in its entirety yet, so I thought I would take the opportunity to challenge it. Here’s version I received:

Read all of this one, it is interesting!!
Near the bottom will give you GOOSEBUMPS!!!
You don’t want to miss this! ((*_*) )
VERY INTERESTING-

1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq
2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!
3. Noah built the ark in Iraq
4. The Tower of Babel was in Iraq
5. Abraham was from Ur, which is in Southern Iraq
6. Isaac’s wife Rebekah is from Nahor, which is in Iraq
7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq
8. Jonah preached in Nineveh – which is in Iraq
9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel
10. Amos cried out in Iraq
11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem
12. Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq
13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had been in Iraq also as the fourth person in the Fiery Furnace!)
14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the ‘writing on the wall’ in Iraq
15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq
16. Ezekiel preached in Iraq
17. The wise men were from Iraq
18. Peter preached in Iraq
19. The ‘Empire of Man’ described in Revelation is called Babylon –which was a city in Iraq

And you have probably seen this one: Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible. But do you know which nation is second? It is Iraq !

However, that is not the name that is used in the Bible. The names used in the Bible are Babylon , Land of Shinar, and Mesopotamia … The word Mesopotamia means between the two rivers, more exactly between the Tigris And Euphrates Rivers ..

The name Iraq means country with deep roots. Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible. No other nation, except Israel , has more history and prophecy associated with it than Iraq

And also, This is something to think about: Since America is typically represented by an eagle. Saddam should have read up on his Muslim passages …

The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)

Koran ( 9:11 ) – For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; And there was peace.

(Note the verse number!) Hmmmmmmm?!

You will notice as we proceed that this email, as with most falsehoods, has much truth. For quick synopsis, I will put three asterisks (***) before points that are entirely true, two (**) before those that are partially true and one (*) before those that are entirely false.

(**) 1. The Garden of Eden was in Iraq.

The Garden of Eden was located at the convergence of the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers. The latter two flow from Turkey to the Persian Gulf in Iraq. Thus based on the location of the former two rivers (which is unknown) the Garden could be anywhere between the highlands of Turkey and the bottom of the Persian Gulf.

(***) 2. Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, was the cradle of civilization!

Mesopotamia included more land than just modern Iraq, but the statement is generally true.

(**) 3. Noah built the ark in Iraq.

The biblical account of the building of the ark mentions no location whatsoever. However, this assumption is not unreasonable.

Nahor was a person, Abraham’s brother. Nahor’s city was in Mesopotamia, but that could be anything between Turkey, Syria, or Iraq.

(***) 7. Jacob met Rachel in Iraq.

Jacob met her in “the lands of the east“. The people there said they were from some of the cities in southern Iraq.

(***) 8. Jonah preached in Nineveh – which is in Iraq.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and is presently located in Northern Iraq.

(***) 9. Assyria, which is in Iraq, conquered the ten tribes of Israel.

See above.

(*) 10. Amos cried out in Iraq.

Several locations are mentioned in the book of Amos, but whenever they are referring to where the man Amos presently is, they always point to Judah or Israel. In fact there is a point (Amos 8:12-13) that the king tells Amos to leave Israel, therefore he must have been there.

(**) 11. Babylon, which is in Iraq, destroyed Jerusalem.

It would be more accurate to say that Iraq is in Babylon as Babylon is bigger. However, the rest is true.

(*) 12. Daniel was in the lion’s den in Iraq.

By this point Babylon had been overthrown by the Persians. The new capital, where Daniel was likely located was East, in Persia (Iran).

(*) 13. The three Hebrew children were in the fire in Iraq (Jesus had been in Iraq also as the fourth person in the Fiery Furnace!)

The location is the same as Daniel. Whether Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael (Shadrach, Mishach, and Abednego) were children is a curious question. Also, whether Jesus was in fact the fourth man belongs to the realm of Theophany.

(***) 14. Belshazzar, the King of Babylon saw the ‘writing on the wall’ in Iraq.

See 12.

(***) 15. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, carried the Jews captive into Iraq.

(*) 19. The ‘Empire of Man’ described in Revelation is called Babylon –which was a city in Iraq.

First, “empire of man” is not a phrase that exists anywhere in any English translation of the Bible. Secondly, in much prophetic literature city names are symbolic. Babylon is a common reference in Revelation but it likely referred to contemporary Rome or some other future powerful city.

(*) And you have probably seen this one: Israel is the nation most often mentioned in the Bible. But do you know which nation is second? It is Iraq !

Actually, Egypt is mentioned way more, even if you include the alternate names for the region of Iraq.

(*)The name Iraq means country with deep roots. Indeed Iraq is a country with deep roots and is a very significant country in the Bible. No other nation, except Israel , has more history and prophecy associated with it than Iraq

Iraq is usually translated as “by the river” or “by the source.” It is a significant historical region. The land does have much history but the country does not. Prophecies are hard to associate with this region as it is impossible to determine how symbolic they are until they are fulfilled.

Another thing to remember is that Iraq didn’t exist as a country until the 1920s. It is a result of the carving up of the Ottoman Empire by the allied powers of WWI. It has no history as a unified nation before that, unless it was part of some other, larger empire (which it often was).

(*)And also, This is something to think about: Since America is typically represented by an eagle. Saddam should have read up on his Muslim passages … The following verse is from the Koran, (the Islamic Bible)

(*)Koran ( 9:11 ) – For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle.. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; And there was peace.